Gothic Tales

by Elizabeth Gaskell

  35. a girl of twelve years old: There is some suggestion that Prudence Hickson may be patterned after Pearl, Hester Prynne's daughter in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850), who is frequently described as ‘impish’, ‘naughty’ and ‘perverse’. See Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, ed. Nina Baym (Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1987), pp. 134, 183, 195. See also Uglow, Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories, p. 310, for a discussion of the ways in which Hawthorne and Gaskell ‘shadowed’ each other in their social and literary lives.

  36. Cotton Mather: (1663–1728), MA, Presbyterian minister of the Second Church of Boston, son of the Rector of Harvard and political emissary, Increase Mather (1639–1723). Religiously conservative, Mather was also philosophically and scientifically radical, and helped champion the fight for inoculation against smallpox. He is often blamed for the Salem witch trials, although he never actually attended one; however, he did not actively speak out against them, and published The Wonders of the Invisible World, an Account of the Tryals if Several Witches, Lately Executed in New-England (1693), though Magnalia Christi Americana (A History of the Wondeful Works of Christian America) (1702), which comments on the witch trials, is usually considered his best work.

  37. in Zion…Aaron's beard: Cf. Psalm 133:1–3: ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even [the High Priest] Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments: As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.’

  38. he saw a vision, or dreamed dreams: Acts 2:17: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.’

  39. Popish rubric: The Book of Common Prayer, first issued in 1549, and reissued in 1662, was the official liturgy of the Church of England. It was seen by the Puritans as Roman Catholic ‘popery’.

  40. irreligious king: Charles II.

  41. a very personal supplication for each: Puritans stressed simplicity of worship and extempore prayer that drew on everyday experience as well as Scriptural justification for inspiration, and which was freed from the ‘popish’ rituals.

  42. Mr Tappau: Based on Revd Samuel Parris of Salem; his two daughters were said to be bewitched, on account of the fits they threw and the contortions of their faces and bodies. Parris's Native American servant was the first to be accused as a witch, and the hysteria which followed eventually led to Parris resigning from his situation and moving away. See Upham, Lectures on Witchcraft, pp. 16–17, 20–22.

  43. Mr Nolan: As Gaskell herself says later on, ‘Nolan’ is a disguised name. He is most probably based on Revd George Burroughs, who was accused of witchcraft, Upham suspects, because of his rivalry with Revd Parris (see note 42 above) (Upham, Lectures on Witchcraft, pp. 55–6, 101–4).

  44. Whom thou hatest I will hate: Reworking of Ruth 1:16, where Ruth vows to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi, and accompany her on her return to her home in Judah: ‘And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.’

  45. Hallow-e'en: Also known as Nutcracker Night in some parts of England, according to Henry Green, where ‘Nuts are thrown into the fire by sweethearts and their swains, to learn something of the course of true love by the way the nuts burn or burst’ (Knutsford, Its Traditions and History (Manchester: E.J. Norton, 1969), pp. 82–3). Hallowe'en, renamed by the Christians as Eve of All Hallows, or All Saints, derives from a Celtic belief that on 31 October, witches and warlocks go abroad.

  46. the Lord who taketh away can restore tenfold: See Job 1:21: ‘Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’

  47. even as Samuel did: See 1 Samuel 3:8: ‘And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I: for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child.’

  48. one of the elect: Like Manasseh's references to the ‘preordained course’, ‘the elect’ here refers to the Calvinist idea that certain spirits are chosen – ‘elected’ – by a merciful but ultimately unknowable God for salvation, and that this election by divine grace determines the course of a person's life. The Puritan investment in the combined forces of spiritual and state government is realized in the civic duties of the elect.

  49. Hazael…great thing: Hazael is anointed by the prophet Elisha to be king of Syria: ‘And Hazael said, But what, is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, the Lord hath shewed me that thou shalt be king over Syria’ (2 Kings 8:13).

  50. Glory to Thee…this night: Bishop Thomas Ken, ‘Evening Hymn’, first published in A Manual of Prayers for the Use of Scolars of Winchester College (1674).

  51. pipkin: Small earthenware cooking pot.

  52. Gordion knot: Problem insoluble by usual methods, referring to an ingeniously tied knot faced by Alexander the Great, who simply cut it in half.

  53. prelatist: Believer in heresy.

  54. troth-plight: Engaged to be married.

  55. mystery of Free-Will and Fore-Knowledge: Manasseh's Calvinist belief in election by divine grace later gives him justification to beg for mercy for Lois: if there is no free will, if God has ultimate control over the fates of mortals, then Lois deserves absolution for her sin of witchcraft.

  56. general court: The sovereign body of the Massachusetts colony with some governing powers of the state.

  57. herd of swine: See Matthew 8:32: Jesus met two people possessed by devils: ‘And he said unto them [the devils], Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.’

  58. Master Matthew Hopkinson: Matthew Hopkins (?–1647) began witch-hunting in Essex in 1644, when he was paid to ride about on horseback looking for witches. Hopkins claimed he had found Satan's book which listed all English witches, and condemned twenty-four people before he was himself condemned and hanged as a witch.

  59. pray for them that…persecute us: Cf. Matthew 5:44: ‘But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.’

  60. Newbury Falls: See Upham, Lectures on Witchcraft, pp. 46–7, where he describes the confessions of a ‘diabolical meeting’ by these Falls, sworn to by fifty-five people who confessed to being witches.

  61. cut off the right hand, and pluck out the right eye: Cf. Matthew 18:8–9: ‘Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off… And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.’

  62. unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost: See Matthew 12:31–2: ‘Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.’

  63. the shepherd David…his throne: 1 Samuel 16:14–23: When Saul was troubled by an evil spirit, David played his harp, ‘and the evil spirit departed from him’ (16:23). In this way, David is said to have controlled Saul's madness.

  64. we are not to suffer witches in the land: See Exodus 22:18: ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.’ See also Deuteronomy 18:10.

  65. ‘and he blessed her unaware’: Cf. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Anci
ent Mariner (1798), Il. 284–5: ‘A spring of love gushed from my heart / And I blessed them unaware!’

  66. How beautiful is the land of Beulah: See Isaiah 62:4: Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken: neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.’ Also mentioned in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678–84), as the land of heavenly joy.

  67. Geneva bands: Clerical collars similar to those worn by Calvin; to a nineteenth-century audience, they would have seemed distinctly low church.

  68. Antony used…Caesar's murder: Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, III.ii.73–4, where Antony turns the plebeians against Brutus with the lines beginning, ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears…’

  69. unbelieving Sadducees: Jewish group opposed to the Pharisees, seen as theologically conservative and rationalist.

  70. Mr Goodwin: What follows is a brief summary of Cotton Mather's description of the ‘bewitching’ off our Goodwin children in his Late Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions, Clearly Manifesting, Not only that there are Witches, but that Good Men (as well as others) may possibly have their Lives shortened by such evil Instruments of Satan (London: Tho. Parkhurst, 1691), pp. 1–53.

  71. Assembly's Catechism: Puritan doctrine published in question-and-answer form.

  72. Dr Martin Luther: Firm believer in witchcraft, Luther (1483–1546) claimed frequent interviews with the devil in which they disputed points of theology, and at one point threw his ink-pot at the devil in an effort to drive him off.

  73. He knows not what he is saying: A version of Jesus’ words asking forgiveness for those who crucified him in Luke 23:34: ‘Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’

  74. Mr Hathorn: John Hathorne (1641–1717), Salem magistrate cursed by one of his victims, and great-great-grandfather of Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose change in name reflects the family's shame.

  75. to tumble down like swine…the words of an eye-witness: Again, Gaskell neatly copies from Upham, Lectures on Witchcraft, p. 74, where he records the words of Jonathan Cary, an eyewitness to the trial, and accusations of those said to be bewitched by his wife. See also note 57 above.

  76. balm in Gilead: See Jeremiah 8:22: ‘Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?’

  77. to effect his mother's escape: Another nearly direct transcription from Upham, Lectures on Witchcraft, pp. 35–6.

  78. humble and solemn declaration of regret: For the declaration signed by the jurors, from which Gaskell copies nearly word for word, see Upham, Lectures on Witchcraft, pp. 126–9.

  79. Deut. xvii.6: ‘At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.’

  80. 2 Kings xxiv.4: ‘And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon.’

  81. Justice Sewall: Samuel Sewall (1652–1730), appointed by special commission to try the witchcraft cases in Salem, did observe a private day every year for ‘humiliation and prayer’, and fifty years after the trials his son arranged restitution for the relatives of the victims.

  The Crooked Branch

  First published as ‘The Ghost in the Garden Room’ in The Haunted House, All the Year Round, Extra Christmas No. (13 December 1859), pp. 31–48. This set of eight stories has the most consistent framing device written by Dickens, according to Harry Stone, ‘The Unknown Dickens: With a Sampling of Uncollected Writings’, Dickens Studies Annual, ed. Robert B. Partlow, Jr., 1 (London: Feffer and Simons, Inc., 1970), pp. 1–22. However, as it was Dickens who wrote the introductory paragraphs, they have been dropped from this edition. It appeared under the title ‘The Crooked Branch’ in Right at Last and Other Tales (London: Sampson Low, Son and Co., 1860), pp. 241–318, from which the present text is taken.

  1. bedgown…linsey: A bedgown is ‘a kind of jacket worn by women of the working class in the north’ (OED). ‘Linsey’ is a coarse linen fabric.

  2. kine: Cows.

  3. Benjamin: The character is very close to a fictional representation of the gloomy explanation Gaskell gives for the misbehaviour of Branwell Brontë, in her biography of Charlotte Brontë: ‘There are always peculiar trials in the life of an only boy in a family of girls. He is expected to act a part in life; to do, while they are only to be; and the necessity of their giving way to him in some things, is too often exaggerated into their giving way to him in all, and thus rendering him utterly selfish’ (The Life of Charlotte Brontë, ed. Elisabeth Jay (Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics, 1997), p. 138).

  4. articled clerk: In this case, apprentice to an attorney.

  5. settle: See note 24 to ‘The Doom of the Griffiths’.

  6. creepie-stool: Low stool on three legs.

  7. bound: Entered into apprenticeship.

  8. crook: Chimney hook for hanging kettles or pots.

  9. dunna wax up so: Don't flare up in this way.

  10. King George: Presumably George IV (reigned 1820–30), as the story begins before Benjamin is born, in the early part of the century; by the time the story has reached this far, Benjamin is in his early 20s, which would place the action roughly coterminous with the reign of George IV.

  11. welly: Nearly, almost.

  12. go-cart: Bottomless framework on rollers which enables a child to move around without falling over.

  13. turned bottom upwards: To bar the door, or to fence the child round for protection.

  14. house-place: See note 30 to ‘Lois the Witch’.

  15. clothes-presses: Movable chests or wardrobes for clothes.

  16. mistaking guineas for shillings: A guinea was worth one pound, one shilling; there were twenty shillings to a pound.

  17. troth-plight: See note 54 to ‘Lois the Witch’.

  18. dree: Dreary.

  19. brass farthing: Coin worth one-quarter of a nineteenth-century penny.

  20. To Memory Dear: Traditionally part of an inscription on a tombstone.

  21. a hole into a box: Presumably a pillarbox, or postbox, which would not be historically accurate here, since none was in use until 1852.

  22. shippon: Cow-shed.

  23. the Prodigal…his father's house: See Luke 15:11–32, for the famous parable of the younger son who asked for his inheritance early and left home; he squandered his wealth to the point where, destitute, he begged a stranger for food, and was sent out to eat with the swine. Repentant and humble, he returned to his father's house, where he was welcomed with love and the ‘fatted calf’.

  24. redd up things a bit: Tidy up.

  25. York Assizes: See note 10 to ‘The Doom of the Griffiths’.

  26. shandry: ‘A light cart or trap on springs’ (OED).

  27. the very stones… rise up: See Luke 19:40: Jesus’ disciples in Jerusalem are singing his praises when some Pharisees ride up and ask Jesus to silence them. ‘And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.’

  28. starving i’ the cold: Dying of cold.

  Curious, if True

  First published as one of the first stories in William Thackeray's new journal, Cornhill Magazine, 1 (February 1860), pp. 208–19. It was reprinted in The Grey Woman and Other Tales (London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1865), pp. 82–104, from which the present text is taken.

  1. ‘Curious, if True’: Sources vary on the form of this title. In the Cornhill Magazine, the title has a comma. In The Grey Woman and Other Tales, the comma is omitted at the start of the story and in the table of contents, which are probably mistakes, as it appears in the headings at the top of every page. The Knutsford edition, The Works of Mrs. Gaskell, ed. Ward, vol. 7, omits the comma; Uglow has put it in Curious, if True: Strange Tales by Mrs Gaskell (London:
Virago Press, 1995); and Angus Easson, who takes The Grey Woman as his copytext, has the title as ‘Curious, If True’, in Cousin Phillis and Other Tales (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981), p. xii. See also Introduction, pp. xvii–xviii.

  2. Richard Whittingham, Esq.: Gaskell draws on a number of popular fairy-tale characters which would have been familiar to a nineteenth-century audience. In addition to Dick Whittington, for whom Whittingham is mistaken, they include, in order of appearance, Bluebeard's wife (‘Madame de Retz’), Cinderella, Poucet, Puss in Boots and his master, the Marquis of Carabas, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty (and later her Beast), the White Cat and Little Red Riding Hood. The fairy stories which Gaskell alluded to originate in Charles Perrault's Histoires et contes du temps passé (Amsterdam: Jacques Desbordes, 1708). ‘The White Cat’ can be found in Countess d'Aulnoy [Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville], Fairy Tales, trans. J. R. Planché (London: G. Routledge & Co., 1855), pp. 433–69. For the English retelling of all of these stories, see Andrew Lang (ed.), The Blue Fairy Book (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1889), which also contains ‘The History of Jack the Giant-killer’ and ‘The History of Whittington’. Also worth consulting is Iona and Peter Opie, The Classic Fairy Tales (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), which charts the first appearance of many of these stories in English.

  3. sister of Calvin's: John Calvin (1509–64), French theologian and religious reformer. He systematized Protestant doctrine and greatly influenced Puritanism in particular.

  4. table d'hôte: Buffet supper for hotel residents.

  5. salle à manger: Dining-room.

  6. Lochiel's grandchild… pillow of snow: In Tales of a Grandfather, Walter Scott describes how the clan chief Cameron of Lochiel found ‘one of his sons, or nephews’ using a snow-ball for a pillow: ‘Indignant at what he considered as a mark of effeminacy, he… kicked the snow-ball away from under the sleeper's head, exclaiming, – “Are you become so luxurious that you cannot sleep without a pillow?”’ (Tales of a Grandfather: History of Scotland, 7 vols., vol. 3, in The Miscellaneous Works of Sir Walter Scott (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1870), 30 vols., vol. 24, pp. 119–20).